Pinchas: Our Offerings of Bread, Fire and Fragrance
The Torah uses a striking series of poetic metaphors to describe the daily Tamid offering:
“Be careful to offer My offering — My bread-offering, My fire-offering, My appeasing fragrance — at its proper time.” (Num. 28:2)
What is the deeper significance of these four descriptions: offering, bread, fire, and fragrance?
Each phrase reflects a core quality common to all Temple offerings. Yet they are particularly fitting for the Tamid, the communal offering that embodies the aspiration to infuse holiness into the daily life of the nation.
Korbani — ‘My Offering'
The word korban shares a root with karov, meaning “close” or “near.” Every offering is an expression of the soul’s inner longing to draw near to God.
The Tamid gives voice to these yearnings in the collective soul of the nation.
Lachmi — ‘My Bread'
Why does the Torah compare the offerings to bread?
Bread sustains life; it binds the soul to the body, allowing the spirit to animate physical powers. The Hebrew root lechem also means “to solder” or “fuse together.”
In this sense, the Temple offerings are like lechem, a medium that binds the physical and spiritual, cultivating the manifestation of the nation’s sacred qualities in the realm of action.
Ishi — ‘My Fire-Offering'
Fire is a source of tremendous energy, capable of igniting and transforming physical matter.
The Temple offerings reflect the goal that the Divine within the nation’s soul is not limited to the intellectual and emotive spheres, but finds expression also in all aspects of physical life.
Rei'ach Nichochi — ‘My Appeasing Fragrance'
This final metaphor evokes pleasantness and sweetness.
The Temple offerings awaken a sense of spiritual delight — both for the individual and for the nation as a whole — as the soul is uplifted and refined. This inner sweetness is rooted in Israel’s unique bond with God, as we live a life of sanctity and meaning.
(Adapted from Olat Re’iyah vol. I, pp. 128-129)
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